What Was Kevin Willard Doing Last Night?

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    Maryland hoops took their first loss of the season last night at Wisconsin. This was more of a "first road game" than the game at Louisville was because the Cardinals are trash this season.

    The Kohl Center is a notoriously tough place to play. Seven out of the last eight teams that came to Madison with a record of 8-0 or better have left with their first L of the season. Maryland was also coming off a huge win at home against a ranked Illinois team in front of a raucous Terp crowd, so you would think a letdown would be kind of natural in this spot.

    Oh yeah. And this happened:



    Is it a coincidence that this was the same rim that Maryland would be shooting on in the second half? I think not.

    Obvious rigging aside, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't get so excited over Mark Turgeon no longer being the head coach of this team that I would ignore any problems that come up with the new guy (Kevin Willard in this case). I railed against Turgeon for his coaching and player development because it was clear that he wasn't the guy meant for this program. I was exhausted of his style, the consistently mediocre performances, and general passive/aggressive nature of his way of going about things. Willard has been a breath of fresh air, last night raised a big question in my eyes?

    What the hell was he doing with 3 timeouts sitting in his back pocket with 30 seconds left in the game?! Wisconsin went from a 4 point lead to 11 in the span of 4 minutes in the second half, and at no point did Willard seem to consider taking a timeout to collect the troops. This wasn't the only run Wisconsin made in the game, or the only stretch of time the Terps were playing like a pile of hot steaming garbage. I'm not a college coach, but even I can tell when you gotta tap the shoulders and call for 30.

    I still like what Willard is doing so far, but if I'm going to be critical of Turgeon for losing games he should've won, I gotta do the right thing and treat Willard the same way.

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